Anti-oppressive Practice Research Articles

Black girl magic: Empowerment stories of black dual status girls

Youth formally involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, referred to as dual status youth-face unique challenges in their systems involvement. There is a steady increase of Black dual status girls. Black dual status girls experience compounding racially gendered discrimination and inequities in these systems, including occurrences of sexual abuse in out-of-home placements and harsher juvenile punishments for minor delinquent acts. These gruesome realities can be overwhelming for Black girls leaving them tasked to navigate toward positive outcomes independently or with limited positive support. Still, Black girls demonstrate a strong ability to overcome discriminatory adversities, through a relentless dismissal of narratives of racialized and gendered stereotypes; and using their empowered voices to recount personal stories of their lived experiences of dual system involvement. Theoretical frameworks for understanding the empowerment of Black dual status girls have focused on deficits, and disregarding the powerful intersectional, gendered systemic racism they endure. Thus, this study proposes a conceptual framework to view the protective factors and positive racialized and gendered identity of Black dual-status females. The approach in this study is to integrate Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black feminism. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, six Black women, 18–36 years old (M = 25) with previous dual system involvement were interviewed with their responses explored in a retrospective analysis. The participants described obstacles related to their dual system involvement and their outcomes of living powerful and successful lives in adulthood. Key themes from findings are: 1) unveiling structural and gendered experiences of Black dual status girls; 2) trauma and triumph: navigating adversity through resistance, critical interrogation of oppressive systems, and engaging in collective responsibility; and 3) Black girl magic: celebrating the strengths and empowerment demonstrated by Black women and girls through centering their voices, raising the collective consciousness, and emphasizing collective responsibility. Illuminating the voices of Black empowered girls in this study is critical in interrupting racial and gender discrimination in these systems and will contribute to how anti-oppressive practices for Black girls are reimagined.

A critical review of intersectionality, social work education and sex work: an Irish perspective

Social work programmes offer a professional qualification with a primary objective of addressing issues of oppression in society. This furnishes a curriculum that prioritises practice-based social work education, alongside the very structural components that create the oppression of race, gender, age and ethnicity of its citizens. Intersectionality is rarely considered mainstream, with a preference for linear, one-dimensional theory, rather than a multilevel theoretical framework towards anti-oppressive practice. Using an adapted voice-centred relational model, the study examines the intersecting experiences of sex workers in the Republic of Ireland. The findings indicate that sex workers primarily work indoors, hold precarious legal status and are situated in Ireland as a response to global migration and economic necessity. The research argues for a revised (intersecting) critical framework for social work education that challenges current sex-work narratives and policies that reinforce ‘helping relationships’ of surveillance, regulation and the exclusion of sex workers.

‘He’s a Gay, He’s Going to Go to Hell.': Negative Nurse Attitudes Towards LGBTQ People on a UK Hospital Ward: A Single Case Study Analysed in Regulatory Contexts

ABSTRACT Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/or queer (LGBTQ) people experience profound health and social care inequalities. Research suggests that staff with negative attitudes towards LGBTQ people, are more likely to hold strong, traditional, religious beliefs. This article reports on a single case study with a newly qualified UK nurse who has since left the National Health Service. This is based on a single interview taken from a larger dataset derived from a funded scoping research study exploring religious freedoms, sexual orientation and gender identity rights in older age care spaces. The interviewee described a toxic nursing culture on a hospital ward for older people. She recounted various incidents involving homophobic and transphobic practice and LGBTQ microaggressions which reportedly impacted the quality of nursing care. The findings are considered in relation to standards for anti-oppressive practice in nursing care, and how nursing students and staff can be supported in addressing practice relating to equality and diversity issues, specifically LGBTQ issues. They confirm the direct significance of addressing the needs and circumstances of LGBTQ people in nursing curricula and ongoing professional practice, and the need to further research, evaluate and progress translation of learning into improved quality care for diverse populations.

Building Equity Into Transition Practice and Service Delivery: A Call for Systemic Changes in the Field of Transition

There is a common narrative in the field of transition: students with disabilities continue to experience poorer post-school outcomes compared with their peers without disabilities. After decades of research and practice, scholars and practitioners have impacted countless numbers of students. However, disparate outcomes for diverse youth still exist. The Division on Career Development and Transition takes the position that if we are to begin reducing persistent differential outcomes for diverse youth, we must examine our current practices and apply anti-oppressive practices to transition planning to ensure we do not continue to perpetuate White cultural norms and ableist approaches to transition. We applied four equity frameworks to transition planning and provided recommendations for transition practice and service delivery.

Virtual International Group Study Program: Towards Understanding Sustainable Development Goals and Community Development in Nepal

To fill the gaps in international education left by the COVID-19 pandemic, many study abroad educators have become creative with their international programming by going online. This theoretical paper describes the conceptualization and delivery of a virtual collaborative program that was developed through a partnership between the Faculty of Social Work professors at the University of Calgary in Canada and Southwestern State College in Nepal. In this article, we share the model of the program and our motivations for developing the program; a formal evaluation of the model has not yet been conducted. Our pedagogical approach was grounded in anti-oppressive practices, which prioritizes the importance of engaging in empowering practices that share power based on mutual respect and learning. In our attempt to address and mitigate divides of students in the Global South and North, we sought to maximize engagement between students, educators from both institutions and social work practitioners (formal and informal) from Nepal to help promote intercultural learning. We also chose the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals as a site of inquiry with the aim of bridging divides and uncovering commonalities across the two countries – Canada and Nepal. With a mission to deliver an interdisciplinary approach to social work, in this paper, we outline the ways that virtual programming can be made collaborative, immersive, and experiential for all participants regardless of their global location. Lastly, the future of this program will be discussed as travel-based education reopens around the world. In presenting our model, we hope to inform the development of future anti-oppressive international education in social work.

Coproduction with Service Users in Adult Social Work: A Study of Service Users’ and Social Workers’ Experiences in Northern Ireland

Abstract Involving service users, in the delivery of health and social care, is a focal point in social policy discourse. Coproduction has become synonymous with anti-oppressive practice and service user empowerment. This article reports on a qualitative study carried out in Northern Ireland which explored service user involvement in adult social care practice and policy development. Semi-structured interviews were completed with service users (n = 6) and social workers (n = 7); thematic analysis was applied to the resultant data. The study was coproduced with service users who informed the research design and were actively involved throughout each phase of the study. Findings suggest that service users are motivated to participate in coproduction and can feel valued in these roles, but meaningful coproduction is a challenge in the current practice environment. Close working relationships, with clear and consistent communication are difficult to maintain amid the current trend of bureaucratisation in our profession. Findings point towards the need for a service-user/social worker alliance which can challenge problematic organisational cultures. Remuneration for service users, engaged in coproduction, is encouraged, alongside organisational recognition of the time and resource necessary for effective coproduction. A procedural and ethical framework for coproduction practices would also be timely.

An Examination of Sex Trafficking by Race and Ethnicity in the State of Missouri on State and Local Levels: Implications for Anti-Oppressive Practice

ABSTRACT Studies examining the relationship between sex trafficking victimization and race/ethnicity are typically limited to organizational or national-level data. State-level and local-level analyses are limited and typically do not occur simultaneously. The aim of the current study is to examine the race/ethnicity of sex trafficking survivors relative to the population on state and local levels in the state of Missouri. Data were derived from survey responses involving 107 social service, healthcare, law enforcement and legal service professionals who reported working with 402 human trafficking survivors (sex trafficking alone, n = 349, sex and labor trafficking combined, n = 53) accessing services in the previous year. Results indicate disproportionate sex trafficking victimization of people of color on local, regional and state levels. The results underscore the necessity for anti-oppressive practice on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Engaging in critical consciousness and integrating cultural strengths in practice, incorporating the role of structural oppression and including diverse case scenarios in trainings, including diverse images on organizational outreach and training materials, recruiting and hiring people of color in service provision, and working to address structural oppressions and risks on a policy level are recommended.

“Pasifika families aren’t accessing specialist services as much because those services require a really one-eyed view of the child”

INTRODUCTION: Accessing disability services in Aotearoa New Zealand is not a simple process. Pasifika families experiencing disability underutilise disability services. This research explores how social workers work successfully with Pasifika families of children with disabilities in Aotearoa New Zealand, a traditionally western-practice-dominated country. It specifically explores how practice is adapted and which frameworks are deemed successful in this field. METHOD: This qualitative research uses semi-structured interviews with four social workers working with Pasifika families of children with disability. Interviews were thematically analysed. FINDINGS: Using an anti-oppressive framework for analysis, this study found it is important for social workers to understand the differences when working with Pasifika families of children with disabilities, this includes: knowledge of Pasifika values, Pasifika social work practice frameworks, relationships, cultural humility and meeting families where they are at. This understanding is necessary for successful social work with Pasifika families of children with disability. IMPLICATIONS: Anti-oppressive practice addressing structural, cultural and personal oppression is crucial for successful social work with Pasifika families of children with disability. Using an anti-oppressive practice approach, which incorporates the intentional inclusion of decolonisation, indigenisation and anti-racist practice provides a conceptual framework for working successfully with Pasifika families of children with disability.

Examining Child-Led Tours and Child Standpoint Theory as a Methodological Approach to Mitigate Asymmetrical Adult-Child Power Dynamics in Ethnographic Research: A Child-Led Tour of Elfish Antics and Sensorial Knowledge

Child-led tours alongside intersectional feminist theory and child standpoint theory provide promising methodological insights regarding meaningful engagement and research approaches with young children that can inform intersectoral pediatric healthcare practice and policy. However, research has paid little attention to the dynamics between children and adults during research and promising methods and theories that may mitigate asymmetrical relationships of power. The authors describe lessons learned from a child-led tour through the lens of an intersectional feminist, child standpoint theoretical orientation regarding child assent, power, and control. The strength of a child-led tour coupled with a reflexive intersectional, child standpoint theoretical orientation is that it can make explicit adult epistemological biases and the tensions between children’s and adult’s interactions and collaborations. Further, this framing may make medicalized and taken-for-granted scientific assumptions of childhood and children explicit and allow for the reimaging of children’s agency, power, and capacity for knowledge generation in situ. Child-led tours coupled with an adult researcher’s commitment to anti-oppressive practice through methodological accountability and frameworks have the promise of eliciting rich, embodied, sensorial data in pursuit of knowledge mobilization for and with children. Child-led tours as an ethnographic, qualitative interview method are proposed to be child-friendly, enabling meaningful knowledge gathering concerning children’s perspectives, ideas, and experiences. More research on the potential for a child-led tour combined with an intersectional, child standpoint praxis is needed to prevent tokenistic methodological strategies that reproduce asymmetrical power relations and dynamics.

Swimming with the Current But against the Tide: Reflections of an Autistic Social Worker

Abstract Autism in social work generally focuses on working with children or adults who are users of services. This reflexive account focuses on the author’s lived experience as an Autistic social worker in the UK and why it is still important to inform the social work profession about autism. Using the creative and connective power of analogy, the author identifies the strengths Autistic social workers can offer within the trauma of the everyday as an Autistic person, locating this within the context of social work practice. The author challenges the deficit focus on autism within research and practice and offers opportunity to connect with your understanding of autism and what that may mean in terms of developing your own relational, anti-oppressive practice.

‘You Just Treat me like a Human Being’: Using Lived Experience to (Re)imagine Boundary Practices in mental health settings

Abstract The personal/professional dichotomy, present within dominant notions of professional boundaries, is an ongoing source of tension within social work. Peer workers, given their positioning as both service users and workers, are uniquely placed to contribute to pre-existing efforts in unsettling this dichotomy. Our analysis, informed by dialogic sharing and theorising with fifteen peer support workers, alongside post-humanist and critical mental health approaches, considers the oppressive effects of enacting a personal/professional dichotomy within mental health settings, and conversely, the emancipatory potential of unsettling the dichotomy. Rather than conceptualising such events as boundary ‘crossings’, ‘incursions’ or ‘transgressions’, we suggest (re)imagining professional boundaries as multiple, enacted through ever-shifting socio-material relations. Our analysis supports pre-existing calls for a relational ethic of social work and highlights how lived experience and post-humanism can support the discipline’s commitment to anti-oppressive practices. We recommend further research, informed by lived experience, to explore the complex relations that constitute boundary practices and their effects for both social workers and service users.

A Critical Review: Medical Assistance in Dying Policy in Canada

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has become more assessable in Canada for those with and without long term chronic illness. The changes in legislation have brought significant concerns to Canadians and healthcare professionals. This Paper critically examines the current and past legislation from an anti- oppressive theoretical lens. Since the Canadian government has significantly changed the legislation since, MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) Bill C-7 was passed in 2016. This paper begins with a discussion of a brief introduction followed by a theoretical framework, anti-oppressive practice. Eligibility and accessing process for MAiD will be explored in this article. This paper concludes with the presentation of the implications in social work profession and health care and provide some recommendations.

Lessons learned from an in-house social work placement: practicum students’ views about a stress reduction peer support pilot project

ABSTRACT Securing social work field placements is increasingly becoming a challenge for social work education around the globe. In response to an unexpected and sudden shortage of field placements in a small primarily undergraduate university near Toronto, Canada, the authors developed an in-house Stress Reduction Peer Support (SRPS) pilot project to provide 12 third-year undergraduate students with the 240 placement hours required to complete their Bachelor of Social Work degree. In-depth interviews with eight of the 12 practicum students revealed support for the idea of the in-house SRPS placement. However, practicum students also expressed the need for improvements if such an unconventional placement were to be offered again. These included the importance of advanced planning for in-house placements, ensuring students do not have unrealistic expectations about placements, allowing students to choose whether to participate in unconventional placements, ensuring the educational content of the placement aligns with what students are learning in their courses, being clear about how each component of the placement aligns with social work anti-oppressive practice, and ensuring sufficient social work-specific supervision. The use of real-plays as opposed to role-plays was questioned, especially regarding students’ discomfort with sharing personal and sensitive information and submitting video-recordings via the Internet.

An applied model of cultural competence in child protection practice

This empirical qualitative study explores the application of a model of cultural competence in child protection practice with families from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in the United Kingdom. Data were collected through audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews with a sample of 17 social workers and family support workers across two local government children's social care agencies. The interview route explored practitioners’ experiences of professional work with children and families from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. They were asked to describe good practices in relation to cultural competence around the initial contact, assessment and care planning. Transcripts of these interviews were uploaded to Nvivo12 software and coded in two stages, initially for emergent themes and subsequently in relation to the ASKED model of cultural competence. Data analysis revealed multiple examples of good practice which were analysed employing the five dimensions of the ASKED model, namely, cultural awareness, cultural skill, cultural knowledge, cultural encounter, and cultural desire. By mapping the approaches developed and employed by practitioners onto the five ASKED dimensions, these became discernible and therefore potentially transferable learning for others. The ASKED model of cultural competence is a means of capturing good practice in a systematic and detailed way, making it sharable with other child protection professionals. ASKED is also a framework for moving beyond anti-oppressive theory to practical implementable antioppressive practices with families from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds

Engaging in critical consciousness in social work education: reflections from a student-academic international refugee activist project

ABSTRACT Engaging in critical consciousness has been central for anti-oppressive practice in social work education. This article presents reflections on migration and (anti-) oppressive social work practices based on a student-academic activist project beginning in the North-East (NE) of England. The project involved MA social work students and two academics from a NE university, organizing a series of events aimed at raising awareness in relation to the refugee crisis. In addition, the project crucially involved a study trip to Athens, Greece, where the discussions with frontline professionals, refugee activists and social work students were utilized as an opportunity for co-learning and anti-oppressive praxis. Using Freire’s (1970, 1994) analysis for oppression and critical consciousness, understandings of social work across international boundaries and contexts of practice were developed, revealing the need for social work education to undertake a more activist and politicized approach.

Developing an equity lens: the experience of creating a professional framework for coaches and mentors

The following is a collective practitioner reflection on creating a coaching and mentoring professional framework for a pilot student support service that focuses on delivering targets in the institutional Access and Participation Strategy. Both coaching and mentoring are increasingly recognised as support mechanisms which can bring about change for social justice (Shoukry and Cox, 2018). As Learning Development practitioners, we are working within a specialist coaching and mentoring service which seeks to remove student inequalities. Therefore, working to create a professional framework which addresses this directly has been valuable. We share our journey in the hope that other Learning Development practitioners will consider an equity lens to critically reflect on their work and join a conversation to develop anti-oppressive practice in student support further.

Under the surface of the professional practice the challenge of anti-oppressive practice in forced migration

ABSTRACT This article explores the dynamics and factors that influence social work practice with parents in forced migration. The lens of anti-oppressive practice supports the data analysis of the empirical research. Using the grounded theory, the article presents and discusses the conscious and unconscious manifestations of oppressive and anti-oppressive practice as they emerge from the experience of social workers (practice in action) and how they manifest at the systemic level (organisational practice). Finally, some implications are drawn for professional and organisational practice.

Anti-oppressive pedagogy in medical education: A qualitative study of trainees and faculty.

Despite the proliferation of interest in health equity and justice in medical education, there is limited research into the practical implementation of pedagogical approaches that align with anti-oppressive practices. This study sought to explore how to integrate anti-oppressive pedagogy into medical education. Using constructivist grounded theory, the authors conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with a continuum of medical education stakeholders including learners and faculty in a Canadian context between June and August 2021. Transcripts were iteratively analysed using constant comparative analysis. Findings suggest that existing approaches to anti-oppressive pedagogy in medical education are misaligned with the perceived values, priorities, pace, biomedical focus and hierarchical nature of medical education, and medical practice. Although some learners are motivated to advance anti-oppressive teaching, their motivations are often related to their personal experiences of oppression. Participants suggested that transformative and structural changes are required to effectively integrate anti-oppressive pedagogy into medical education. Suggestions included a shift to community-based learning while ensuring adequate compensation for educators and addressing resistance at individual and institutional levels. Anti-oppressive pedagogy does not presently align with existing medical education practices. Effectively integrating anti-oppressive approaches will require individual and institutional reflection on the values and assumptions that underpin the field before progress can be made in a meaningful and sustainable way.

The shadow fathers: Barriers to whole family approach in social work?

Objective: The paper aims to explore the barriers to father involvement in family social work at the personal, cultural, and structural levels, and their interconnectedness to answer the main research question of how gendered constructions of mothers and fathers in social work affect the involvement of fathers in interventions. Background: This paper contributes to debates about fathers in social work by examining gendered constructions of fathers in social services for families with children in the Czech Republic. The problem is viewed from the perspective of social constructionism, anti-oppressive practice, and the whole family approach. Method: To meet the objective, we used a qualitative research strategy. 44 in-depth interviews with social workers, mothers, and fathers were carried out. After that, three focus groups with 21 social workers were formed. Results: The results show that mothers and fathers are treated differently in social work, and femininity and masculinity are perceived as dichotomous opposites. This hinders fathers' involvement in family services and puts responsibility for solving family problems to mothers. Conclusion: Most of these barriers at the micro- and mezzo-levels are in some way related to system barriers at the macro-level, which are often shaped by gender discourses.

Teaching Beyond Trans-Competency: Exploring Trans-Affirming Pedagogy Through Applied Case Studies

In this paper, we share two applied case studies social work instructors can use to teach trans-affirming, anti-oppressive practice. These cases span two practice arenas, child welfare and low-barrier shelter services, and are derived from practice in the authors’ personal and professional experiences in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. For each case, we describe the accompanying class context, share our pedagogical approach, name the underlying assumptions and structures that facilitate harm, explore relevant practice skills, and identify theoretical, philosophical, and ethical commitments essential for trans-affirming practice. Our approach to social work education on transgender and gender expansice (TGE) issues goes beyond the didactic forms of trans-competency lectures we are all too familiar with, whereby students memorize statistics and terms. Instead, we offer strategies to open up possibilities for transformative and sustainable shifts in thinking about social work practice with TGE communities. In this article, we use “TGE” to refer to transgender and gender expansive individuals and LGBTQ+ to refer to people belonging to gender and sexual minority groups. Any deviations represent language used within specific studies or cases cited.